


It's a Little Bit Funny

by Vav



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2302172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vav/pseuds/Vav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry didn't sign up for Music Appreciation. Hell, he didn't even know there was a Music Appreciation class offered at his school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo I'm really into Teacher/Student AUs, and I thought Razzabang would be perfect because of the actual age difference and everything. So yeah, this will definitely be multi-chapter and I plan for it to get more steamy in later chapters. I include Jon in this fic because he and Barry actually went to high school together, and I wanted someone I was semi-familiar with so this isn't overrun by OCs, which I absolutely HATE writing! The OCs are up for you to imagine, I probably won't elaborate on any of them too much since they serve virtually no purpose (I do write Chris as being at least half Asian though, if you want to go with that). So yeah, as always, let me know what you think, and I hope you all like it!
> 
> P.S. this is set in the present, not when Barry was actually in high school ^_^

Barry looked down at his schedule that was already worn from folding it so many times. He was excited for his senior year; he had only two academic classes, and was already set up to spend a lot of time working on theatre tech and graphic design. But there was one class on his schedule that he didn't even sign up for: music appreciation. He didn't even know that that class existed. He had signed up for ceramics with all of his friends, but he was the only one who didn't get in. 

"You should talk to Mrs. Ryan; I bet she'd get you in with us," his friend Jon offered in the middle of English class. "It'll be no fun without you, anyway."

"I think I'll just see what it's all about first. Maybe I'll want to stay," Barry replied. Jon looked overdramatically hurt. "Not that I don't love you and Chris and Travis. I just think it's worth a shot, you know?" 

"Who even teaches Music Appreciation?" Jon asked, passing a stack of papers behind him carelessly. "I know it's not the band director."

"Let me see," Barry sighed. He pulled out his schedule again and scanned the list of classes. "It says L. Avidan." 

"Who the hell is L. Avidan?" Jon shouted, seeming to open the question to the whole class. 

"New teacher," the girl behind Barry answered. The two boys turned around. Jon squinted at her. "I helped put together welcome packages for all the new teachers, and Avidan was one of them." 

"Well, thanks, Jessica," Jon nodded and turned back around. Barry pinched the bridge of his nose.

"My name is Melissa," the girl said, annoyed. "I've known you since the fourth grade." Barry gave her an apologetic glance before returning to his work.  

\-----

 It was lunchtime, which meant it was almost time for Music Appreciation. Barry grabbed some pizza and an apple from the lunch line and found his friends at their usual table in the cafeteria. They sat next to a few tables of theatre kids, and a smattering of AP kids who never shut up about Doctor Who. He noticed some small students sharing their table and set his tray down with confusion.

"Oh, Barry, this is my little sister Michelle and her friend Valerie," Travis spoke with a mouth full of ham sandwich. "They're pretty lame but I told them they could sit here."

"Well, they can't be as lame as you, Travis," Barry smiled, sitting down and putting his backpack on the ground. He felt like a sophomore without his beard, especially since he was the shortest of his group of friends. But he was almost a man, even if he did like to watch Spongebob reruns in his pajamas on Saturday afternoons.

"Guys, I'm actually going to shoot myself before the week is over," Jon stated as he took a bite of his pizza. "The new Economics teacher is 118 years old and smells like stale banana bread, I swear to god." 

"Why were you smelling her?" Chris asked, tilting his head to the side. Jon chewed his pizza angrily.

"I had no choice, I was stuck sitting in the front row. She's pugnant, what can I say?" Jon replied. He looked at the giggling freshmen seated across from him. "Seriously, don't take Econ, kids. Unless Mrs. Lannister clocks out before you're seniors." The girls laughed some more, albeit a bit shyly. They all fell into a comfortable silence before Jon broke it only seconds later. "Maybe your Music Appreciation teacher will be a prune, too, Barry. L. Averan or whatever."

"Avidan," Barry corrected, washing down a pizza bite with some water. "And I guess I'll know next period. 

"Alright, well, you have to text us a picture of her when you find out," Travis smiled. "Five bucks says she's old as dirt."

"Five bucks says _he's_ old as dirt," Jon said smugly. They all looked at Chris.

"I literally have no money to my name," he shrugged. "My mom packed me leftover 'soba for lunch. But I'd bet that she's hot. Girls?"

"We already had _him_ for Health third period," Michelle grinned. "So that wouldn't be fair." Travis groaned and pulled out a five.

\-----

Barry checked his schedule one last time before putting a hand on the door handle. The classroom was separate from all the other buildings, out by the locker rooms attached to the gym. He vaguely recalled an Italian class being taught in there before that program got axed. He opened the door and stared blankly at the handful of students inside.

"Welcome, welcome!" the teacher called cheerily. He could tell without even looking at him that he was definitely _not_ old as dirt. Barry turned his head to look at the man standing at the front of the cozy classroom. No, no, anything but old. 

Barry had never had a teacher who looked so young before. This guy couldn't have been a day over 27, 28 at the max. Barry was so used to middle-aged men and women who still had Blackberrys and drove minivans to school. But this guy was definitely out of the ordinary. The first thing he noticed was the shaggy mop of curls that overtook his head and face. His hair wasn't even that long, it was just...wide? As if it grew outward instead of downward. 

"I'm Mr. Avidan. Let me sign off on your schedule real quick, then you can grab a seat," the teacher spoke with a lax tone. Barry nodded and walked swiftly up to the whiteboard, handing Mr. Avidan his crumpled schedule. "Alright, we got...Barry! Nice to meet you, Barry." He made eye contact with Barry when he said this, and, by god, was that genuineness? Was that a truly happy gleam in the eye? From a _teacher_? No, it couldn't be.  

"N-nice to meet you, too," Barry croaked out with a small smile. Mr. Avidan scribbled out an initial next to the class name on his schedule.

"I already had a row with the principal because I didn't do this schedule-checking thing for my first period class," he said as he returned the schedule. "So, I'll probably be demoted to a PE teacher by next week." The kids already sitting in desks - was it, what, three of them? - snickered softly to themselves. "Oh, sorry, did that hit a little too close to home?" 

Barry snagged the seat that was front and center and put his schedule back in his pocket. Mr. Avidan stared at him in wonder, leaned against the whiteboard, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked, wide-eyed. Barry must have looked hurt, because Mr. Avidan immediately stuck his hands out, palms to Barry, in apology. "No, no! I mean, like, you grabbed the _front_ _seat_ , dude. I thought high schoolers were supposed to fight to the death for the back of the classroom, that's all."

"Oh," Barry smirked, letting out an embarrassed breath. "No, I just...I don't know, it was right here." The door opened, and Mr. Avidan flashed him a thumbs up before welcoming the next two students.

\----- 

It was five minutes into the class period and Mr. Avidan had already instructed everyone to form their desks into a circle and sit on top of them. There were only twelve students in the class, and Barry wondered why he was even there.

"Okay, I just want to have a little heart-to-heart with you guys," he announced as he hopped on top of the thirteenth desk. He crossed his legs underneath him. 

It was weird. He was wearing a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a baby blue tie, black dress pants, and...running shoes. Gray and white and navy running shoes with white socks. But Barry wasn't going to judge. He was the one wearing his two-year-old black converse with holes in the soles, after all.

"So, we're going to tell each other a little about ourselves. Typical first day stuff, yeah? Alright, I'll start." He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "My name is Leigh Daniel Avidan, but I go by Dan or Danny. Feel free to call me either of those names if 'Mr. Avidan' isn't doing it for you. I'm from New Jersey. Uh, let's see. Oh! I'm Jewish, if you couldn't tell from my absolutely abhorring Jewfro." He mussed his hair one more time and pointed to it before continuing. "I curse like a sailor, annnnd I know a thing or two about music." He shrugged and folded his hands under his chin with a wink. "Alright, let's start with Chelsea and go in a circle."

"Alright, well..." the athletic brunette started. Barry shared two classes - English and Graphic Design - with her already, and he'd known her since sophomore year. She was the only person he actually knew in this class, besides the freckled, lanky, junior boy that bumped into him in the hallway on the way to second period. "I'm Chelsea Delaney, and I play volleyball and soccer." She shrugged and looked at Mr. Avidan. 

"Lame," he blurted. "Come on, girl! Give me some spice! Some pizazz! What's your favorite mythical creature? What are your top four Mediterranean countries? Give me something, Chelsea!"

"Uhm, I like to bake?" she said with uncertainty. The teacher moved his hand in a forward circle, indicating he wanted more out of her. "When I was 12, a goat trampled me and broke all the bones in my arm and cracked three of my ribs." She finished with a smile, and some of the students laughed.

"That's what I like to hear! Well, not necessarily the goat trampling part, but the weird stories. Get weird with me, Barry," Mr. Avidan nodded at him, tossing his untamed curls back. He leaned forward and looked at Barry with hope in his eyes. 

"I'm Barry Kramer," he started after clearing his throat. "I'm a fan of video games and bananas." Mr. Avidan closed his eyes nodded in appreciation. "Um, I really like pygmy marmosets because they're simultaneously adorable and grotesque. And I play guitar a little. There's not much about me that's all too weird." The text alert on his phone went off to punctuate his sentence. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry. I forgot to turn the sound off."

"Well, maybe that text says something weird about you," Mr. Avidan suggested, leaning back on his hands. "Maybe it's a text from God. Or Allah. Or Yahweh. Whatever you're into." Barry pulled out his phone from his pocket and checked the screen.

"Oh, uh, my mom would want me to say Yahweh, but I'll take none of the above for right now," Barry replied with a smirk. "But, yeah, my friends were betting on whether or not you were a crotchety old lady and wanted me to take a picture of you for proof. They're weird, not me."

"Well, are you gonna do it?" Mr. Avidan asked, drawing his knees up into his arms. "Let me take a selfie." He reached for Barry's phone and successfully snatched it, leaving Barry with a face full of regret. In a matter of a few seconds, the teacher had the smartphone extended in one long arm - his left, Barry noticed - and was taking several pictures of himself wearing different facial expressions. After what Barry assumed was upwards of twenty photos, Mr. Avidan handed the phone back. "You're welcome."

\----- 

After another forty-five minutes, the bell to go to sixth period sounded. Mr. Avidan was halfway through a story about some drunk girl mistaking him for Jim Morrison after a show his old band played, and he cursed at the interruption. 

"I'll finish the story tomorrow! I promise!" he shouted as the students shuffled out of his classroom. Barry was the last to leave, and before he passed through the doorway, he turned around to his teacher.

"Uh...L'chaim," he said awkwardly with a small, upward hand gesture. Mr. Avidan looked up from the extra syllabi he was putting into a file folder and smiled at him.

"L'chaim to you, too, my brother," he replied, waving as Barry exited the room.  

Barry received a verbal beating from his friends when he got to Theatre Tech for (a) being much too happy with his Music Appreciation class ("No, it's not because of the teacher, guys, I swear!" he had partially lied), and (b) having a young, selfie-educated, male teacher, which made Jon pull out a five and Chris pull out a dollar bill he found between lunch and sixth period. Nobody had won the bet, so Barry took the money and decided he would save it up to buy the new PS4 game that was coming out soon. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so there isn't a whole bunch of plot in this chapter, but I needed to set up some things for future chapters! Hopefully it won't take me as long to put out another one. Feedback is appreciated! <3

"So you're really sticking with that class, huh?" Jon asked after school the following Monday. Theatre rehearsal was cancelled as the power had gone out on that side of the campus, so they just waited for Barry's mom to come pick them up outside of the gym. Jon thought driving was irrelevant, and Barry was in between cars – the last one's engine gave out.

"I am indeed," Barry replied. He brought his shoe up onto the bench he was sitting on and grabbed ahold of the loose laces on either side. "I like music more than pottery. And the teacher's pretty cool." Barry wasn't thrilled about the presentation he would have to give later that week, but Mr. Avidan told them all to get used to it. Speaking was a huge part of the grade for the class. 

"I guess it beats getting your hands dirty as shit every other day," Jon shrugged. "What's your presentation about? I remember you brought it up during sixth period." Barry finished tying his shoe and set his foot back down on the ground.

"I have to give a five minute spiel about a genre of music I like and why I like it," Barry began. "So I'm doing video game soundtracks because electronic and rock were already taken." Jon cackled and shook his head.

"You're the hugest fucking nerd, Barry. Never change," Jon told him, briefly resting a hand on his shoulder. "So what's so great about this Avidan character anyway?"

"Well, Dan's just super chill and funny but he still-"

"You call him Dan? You literally address him by a shortened version of his last name?" Jon interrupted in disbelief. Barry rolled his eyes.

"No. His name is Daniel Avidan," Barry explained. He spent the majority of his time with Jon explaining things to him. He saw Jon open his mouth to speak but cut him off. "Leigh Daniel Avidan. He goes by his middle name."

"You're on a first name basis with your teacher?" Jon questioned, again in disbelief. 

"Like I said, he's really laid-back," Barry nodded. "We actually learn things, though. He knows what he's doing, I guess." 

"Hey Barry!" a voice called from a few feet away. It was Mr. Avidan, backpack slung over his shoulder. He was walking to the parking lot, toward the staff parking area. Barry's head whipped around and he smiled at his teacher.

"Hey, Mr. Avidan!" he called back, offering a small wave. Barry snuck a brief glance at Jon, who was casually eying the young teacher.

"You guys need a ride? Or are you off to do teenage boy things behind the baseball field?" Mr. Avidan asked with a smirk. "Totally not speaking from experience."

"Nah, we're just waiting for my mom. Thanks, though," Barry grinned at his teacher. Mr. Avidan refused to wear shoes that weren't horrid running shoes or faded Converse. He mainly wore jeans and t-shirts or button-downs, ditching the slacks after the first day of school. Barry admired the contrast from his other teachers who wore slacks and skirts and dresses and ties and polos and nice shoes.

"Alright, see you tomorrow, Barry!" Mr. Avidan saluted the boys before he continued his journey to his car. Jon snickered when he saw the old sedan with the busted bumper that the man unlocked and hopped into. Barry smacked him on the arm. A freshly-washed, silver minivan pulled into the parking lot. Usually, it would be driven by Mrs. Kramer, but today somebody else was in the driver's seat.

"FUCK. YES," Jon shouted, his booming voice occupying the entirety of the desolate parking lot. He hopped up and ran to the curb. "Shotgun!"

"Fine," Barry murmured. The only downside to having a cool older brother was that his friends seemed to like Alex more than they liked him. The van pulled up to the curb and Jon immediately hopped inside the front seat. Barry took his time walking to the car, and slid the side door open. “Hey, Alex."

“Hey, Barry," Alex said as he looked to the backseat through the rear view mirror. "Mom was really into her gardening and told me to come get you guys." Barry nodded and buckled his seatbelt. Alex hadn't started his school year yet, and it was nice to have him around for the beginning of Barry's senior year. 

"What's for dinner at the Kramer household?" Jon inquired, squinting intensely at the eldest Kramer brother. 

"I figured I'd take you guys to get pizza or In-N-Out or something," Alex shrugged, pulling away from the curb once a student passed in front of them, keys in hand. Jon was very satisfied. "Mom and Dad are going to a work party tonight so it's just us."

"You guys can help me work on my project!" Barry joked, sounding totally convincing. The boys in the front seats groaned. "Kidding, kidding. I'll just do it last minute tomorrow night."

\-----

Barry finished his presentation on Wednesday night at 11:48. He wasn't proud of his procrastination, but he got the work done. He spent his time playing Final Fantasy, so it was technically related to his schoolwork. Barry awoke the next morning at 6, feeling groggy and full of regret. 

He was feeling nervous as the student before him – was his name Rowan? Ronan? Roman! That's it – presented. The guy talked about ska music and pointed to his poster board a few times for reference, mainly just when talking about albums by Sublime and The Aquabats and Reel Big Fish, for which he had the cover art.

"Alright, thanks for the stellar presentation, Roman," Mr. Avidan said cheerfully from his seat at the back of the classroom. Everybody clapped enthusiastically – well, as enthusiastically as eleven people could clap – then waited for their teacher to call the next name. "Next up is Barry! Chelsea, get the lights, he's using the projector." Barry stood and made his way to the computer on his teacher's desk, where he opened a browser and brought up his slideshow. The lights went off and he assumed that was his cue to begin.

"On the first day of school, I mentioned how I liked video games," Barry started, making sure to stand up straight and project his voice, even though his classmates fit into three columns of seats in front of him. "You probably thought I was incredibly lame. Well, now I'm doing my presentation on music in video games." He paused while a few people blew air out of their noses. "I'm the embodiment of rock bottom, but I hope you enjoy the next few minutes." A few people audibly laughed, including Mr. Avidan.

Barry talked passionately, which was always a good thing when delivering a speech or presentation. He had practiced in the mirror quite a few times the night before, and even in the bathroom during third period. He was confident in his preparation, but knew his words usually got jumbled whenever he tried to put it all together in its final form.

His slideshow was the most impressive yet. Some other people used transitions here and there, but otherwise used the pre-made themes and fonts. Barry made his slide backgrounds from video game stills, adding in text in empty spaces at certain angles to make it look a part of the scenery. And the text was a font that Barry had made on the computer a year prior. He knew to keep the slides brief, because high schoolers only paid attention to one concept for so long. Some slides had examples of music to demonstrate how the tone changes for the situation. He played snippets of opening themes, cutscene melodies, battle tunes, boss music, and end credit themes. He stuttered a few times, but other than that the execution of the presentation was excellent. Everybody got a kick out of the last slide, which was a photoshopped image of his classmates' faces on Super Smash Bros characters, with the theme music playing softly as Barry brought it all to a close. Everyone applauded before Mr. Avidan could even give him an outro. 

He got his graded rubric back at the end of the period. He received 25 out of 25 points on his presentation, but noticed there was a note scribbled below his score. 

"KILLER presentation! Come hang out at lunch sometime!" the note read. Barry nodded to himself and frowned in that 'not bad' fashion. He set a reminder in his phone to see his teacher at lunch the next day. Mr. Avidan probably just wanted to discuss the slideshow or something like that, Barry figured.

"Hey Barry!" Mr. Avidan greeted cheerfully as his student entered the room. The teacher was collecting papers from the desks where his health students had left them. They looked like diagrams of the human body, with lines pointing to different limbs and organs.

"Hey, Mr. Avidan," Barry replied, shuffling awkwardly into the empty classroom. "How's your day going so far?"

"Well, it's 85 degrees outside and I've been teaching sweaty freshmen about their bodies all day," the teacher shrugged. "It's not the worst. How's your day?"

"Boring," the teenager muttered. "I thought having only two academic classes would be fun, but there's nothing to do without homework and tests to prepare for. I've been playing a lot of video games, though."

"That's always good," Dan nodded and pulled a peanut butter sandwich out from his lunch pail. Yeah, just peanut butter and bread. "What have you been playing recently?"

"Destiny," Barry answered. "Doesn't live up to the hype."

"My friend's been wanting me to try playing that," Dan told him after chewing his bite of sandwich. "But I'm a little busy playing Punch Out to be bothered." He took out a water bottle from the pail. Barry snickered. "I basically refuse to play anything that's popular today."

"I have a mix, it's, like, half popular and half indie. I've played some reeeeaaalllyyy shitty games in my seventeen years," Barry discussed. "And Super Smash is always a must."

"Oh, of course," Dan agreed. "Your portrayal of me as Luigi was spot on, by the way."

"I try, I try," Barry said. "I identify with Yoshi on a spiritual level. We're both small and make hideous noises at all hours of the day."

"But do you eat fruit and put people back into the womb?"

"I do one of those things for sure," Barry nodded. "I'll let you decide which."

"Damn, I really wish I still had my copy of Melee. My roommate's keyboard fell over onto the case that was on the couch and shattered the disc," Dan reminisced solemnly. 

"Your roommate plays?"

"Yeah, we kinda jam from time to time. I sing, he plays, one of us teaches molecular physics on the side," Dan explained. "I'll let you decide which." Barry laughed and finally took the seat closest to his teacher's desk, turning it to face him and his peanut butter sandwich.

"You guys should jam in here sometime," Barry suggested. "Do you write music or do covers?"

"Oh, we write music, Barold," Dan said in a serious tone. "Definitely not school appropriate music, but music nonetheless. I've been in a few bands, though. With more appropriate music."

"Well, I'd love to hear it sometime," Barry nodded. Dan nodded back and took another bite. "I take it teaching wasn't your first choice for a career path." 

"I like teaching," Dan said with hesitant contemplation. "But I like music better. Music Appreciation is good for me, but teaching a boring subject like Health to 14 year-olds is not ideal. But I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't like it a little bit."

"Are you saying we're your favorite class?" Barry deadpanned.

"I am, indeed, Barry," Dan replied with a smirk. As if on cue, the door opened and a person, unknown to Barry, walked through. He was about the same height as his teacher but not as lanky. He had shoulder-length hair with a platinum streak on one side.

"Hey man! Sorry, am I interrupting something?" the man greeted as he shuffled further in. He had a drink carrier full of smoothies in his hands and an eager expression on his face. 

"Nah, we're just hanging out," Dan told him. "Barry, this is my good friend Arin. Arin, this is one of my students, Barry." Arin walked over and set the drink carrier down before sticking a hand out to the teenager. Barry accepted the cold hand and gave it a firm shake. 

“Good to meet you, man,” Arin beamed. He turned to Dan. “Suzy’s waiting in the car for me, so I can’t stay long.”

“Are we still on for tonight at Ross’ place?”

Barry tuned out of their conversation; he didn’t want to feel like he was intruding on something that was none of his business. He pulled out his phone and saw that he had a few texts in his inbox.

Jon: where are you????  
Jon: chris is gonna go hungry cuz he cant eat your leftovers  
Chris: im starving

When he looked back up, Arin was leaving the classroom with a few parting words to the both of them. He and Dan talked a bit more about Barry’s favorite video games and Dan’s college experience before the bell rang to go to class.

“I gotta say, Barry, you’re super rad,” Mr. Avidan admitted. “I never knew I’d actually think a grimy little teenager would be cool, but I guess I was wrong.” Barry gave him a chuckle and stood up to put his backpack on. “I kid, I kid, you’re not that grimy. We should do this again sometime, if you want.” Barry met Dan’s eyes and smiled just a bit. 

“For sure,” Barry agreed. He made his way to the door and cracked it before looking back at his teacher. “You’re definitely my favorite teacher.” Barry blushed the slightest when he realized it was completely unnecessary to say that, and bolted out of the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise I'll stop quoting Single Train in a cringeworthy manner. And I'm sorry if you thought it was boring or whatever but I have to get some backstory and basis for this fic if it's gonna go anywhere! Stick around, I promise it'll start picking up ;)


End file.
